What I was trying to do
by Noah0z
Summary: Somethings are destined not to be
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own em. So don't sue me.

What I was trying to do

She could feel his heart beating through the thick fabric that covered his physically perfect, yet visually scarred chest. Her hand was placed upon the symbol that seemed to rule his life. Nestled under his chin, she heard him inhale deeply, as if trying to capture the scent of her hair. She'd captured his a long time ago, but had failed to ever tell him. Hands, which had been hidden cape, emerged from his cape and began to slide up her thighs before settling on her hips. Involuntarily, her eyelids fluttered shut. How many times had they been here in recent months? Always so close to something that was very far away for them. Hesitantly, she pushed away from him and looked up into those blues eyes that were so often hidden behind the whites of his cowl.

"Bruce, I..." Diana began.

As she began to speak, J'onn's voice penetrated the silence of the room. Unconsciously, they both looked towards the monitor room where they knew he was on duty.

"All on duty League report to the Monitor Womb. There in a situation in Nafor that requires our immediate attention."

Before Diana could turn back to him, Bruce had raised his cowl and was once more 'The Bat'.

"Bruce..." She began again.

"Later we have a job to do." He replied.

With his words spoken, he was already walking away from her and towards the doorway that led to the interior hallways of the Watchtower.

As the door slid shut behind him, she realized that she'd been holding her breath and released a ragged sigh before turning away from her view of the blue-green orb appearing over the moon's horizon. One last look at the orb and she turned on her heels heading to the Womb.

All around Diana, the battle raged. Somehow militants in Nafor had acquired a top-of-the-line weapons cache and using their newfound power they proceeded to march on the underdeveloped country's capital. The League had arrived in enough time to minimize casualties. Now the offenders were much more focused on escaping the JLA rather than taking over the capital. Kal arrived in a streak on red and blue. The militants' eyes were all directed upwards as he broke the sound barrier flying towards them. They did not even notice that Wally began removing the front most soldiers' weapons. Diana saw him skid to a stop at the edge of the city; his arms piled high with rifles and launchers. She and J'onn had been analyzing the battle from above. To her left, she saw several men stagger out of a cloud of gas and two more thrown out by force. The wind shifted and the gas drifted away, exposing the dark figure holding one of the now unconscious men by his shirt.

Instinctively Diana said, "I'll take the left."

J'onn nodded and immediately departed for the right side of the field. Diana saw the men catch site of the huge bodied Martian and stood slack-jawed for a moment before turning away to escape

Minutes passed and Diana found herself once again fighting back to back with Batman. From the corner of her eye, she could see his perfectly executed strikes, which resulted in crumpled bodies under their feet. As the group around them thinned, they drifted farther away from each other. All around them, the air was permeated by the sound of gunfire. It reminded Diana of the last New Year's she had spent at the Embassy. Then it had been fireworks and she would smile as the pops and cracks signaled a celebration. Now, those sounds coming from gunfire meant nothing but destruction. A round came painfully too close to Diana's face and caused her to snap her attention back to the matter a hand. While she stood her ground and deflected the bullets, Bruce rolled and dodged the gunfire in a way that reminded Diana of a jungle cat leaping and bounding. Milliseconds later, dirt was flying into the air in the place where he once was. His assailants had just begun to notice and were starting to back away from him, but realized it was too late as he leapt toward them.

The loud click of the mechanism brought her attention – once again - back to her own situation. The source of the sound was easy for Diana to pinpoint. He was close to seven foot tall and carried more muscle mass than Batman, which to her was fairly impressive. His features were dark, but carried a northern European look that distinguished him from the other militants, which were obviously from the area. Slung heavily over his shoulder was a gun that seemed excessively large, even compared to his stature. She had little time to evaluate him or the weapon as he trained the massive gun on her. The sounds around them indicated that the war was lost for the militants, but the man facing her did not show any signs of retreat or surrender. He smiled a toothy smile as a meaty finger tightened round the trigger. A spray of rounds erupted from the barrel. Obviously, he had little experience with the weapon as his aim strayed wildly into the ground before her, but unfortunately he was a quick study and the rounds became increasingly more accurate. She took a step back as the bullets found their way towards her torso. On instinct, her arms became nothing but a blur of silver and flesh as she deflected each bullet safely into the earth. The endless stream of lead continued to pound into her as the ground around her erupted. Chunks of earth and rock fell from the air, obscuring her view and causing her to falter enough to send a round dangerously close to her booted foot. In that instant she lost her control of the stream and several rounds were deflected into the unknown.

A split second passed before J'onn's voice roared in to her mind, deafening the natural sound around her

"Superman", he said and then was silent.

This told Diana that the next part of his communication was for Kal only. As the words left her mind, she was struck by a very odd, yet overwhelming sense of loss. It was so random that she could only attribute it to the slight telepathic connection she still maintained with him.

While she was still battling the large man, a red blur erupted from her peripheral vision and landed a hard punch across her toothy assailants chin. He crumpled to the ground as the Flash began working his way out from her position, clearing what was left of the militants. Diana paused for a moment watching him dispatch the last of them with ease.

Behind her she heard Kal mutter her name with some difficulty. Diana turned around curious as to why his voice sounded so flat when it seemed as though the mission was successful. She felt the color leave her face as she took in the sight before her. Kal had his back to her while kneeling on the ground. On both sides of him, she could see a dark, scalloped cape lying limply. Only then did Diana notice the air was still for the first time since they had arrived. She ran towards Superman, but stopped short when she could see over his shoulder. Her hand rose over her mouth to stifle the gasp that was trying to escape her mouth. Lying face down in the hardened earth was an eerily still Batman.


	2. Chapter 2

The dark and damp nature of the cave was in stark contrast to the arid environment where she once was.

Diana stood to the far side of the medical platform with her arms tightly crossed across her chest. She hadn't looked away since she'd arrived in the teleporter moments ago. Clark stood near the older man who carefully examining the body in front of him. She could see his shoulder's shudder shake slightly ever so often. Even with his head down Diana knew tears were streaming down his face. The moments that had led them to this point still whirled through her head so badly that she could barely keep them in order.

Without saying a word Superman scooped up Batman's limp body and flew into the sky in a streak of red and blue. Diana looked to J'onn not quite understanding what was happening.

"J'onn?"

"I am sorry, Diana."

"What's happening? Where is Kal taking him?"

"To his cave I believe. They have had talks of this occurrence."

"What occurrence? What are you talking about? Why aren't we taking him to the Watchtower for treatment?"

"I'm sorry Diana. I'm not reading anything from Batman."

"I need to know where the nearest teleporter is. I'll never catch up now."

J'onn nodded, realizing that arguing would do no good at this point.

"25 miles to the south of our current location. It is near the U.S. Embassy here. I'll tell you where it is hidden on your way."

Diana took off instantly and could feel J'onn pressing the information she needed in to her head before she was very far off the ground. Moments later she was frantically pushing the the caves access codes into the teleporter's control panel.

FORBIDDEN blazed across the panel in bright red letters. Mayhe she's made a mistake entering the codes.

FORBIDDEN.

At that moment she remembered he only allowed access to the cave from the Watchtower.

"Curse you, Bruce!" She instantly regretted saying it and tears began welling up as the she entered the code to take her to the Tower.

As the hum of the machine subsided she stepped out into the stillness of the moon base and punched int the access codes for the cave. This time the machine blinked a green READY on the control panel and prompted her to step in to the teleporter once again.

She arrived just as Kal was lying Bruce down on the examination table. Alfred looked over to her as she stepped out of machine As she walked over to him she could already see the loss etched across his face. She watched as he peeled back the cowl from Bruce's head. Blood had seeped all around under the cowl leaving a crimson mask still laid across his face Alfred used a wet sponge to wipe away the dried blood, revealing the pale white skin under it. Bruce's skin was never particularly tan, he'd always joked to the media that he lived most of his life at night. They never realized how true that statement really was. Alfred turned Brice's head to the side and found the entry wound close to the base of his skull, which had trickled a small amount of blood onto the examination table. Bruce's lifeless blue eyes stared up from the table before Alfred laid a hand gently on his face and with a slow downward motion he closed his son's eyes forever to the world. This simple act seemed to be the breaking point for the old man and he stumbled back into a nearby chair. Her own tears welled up once again as she walked around the table and draped a comforting arm around the seated man.

"I'm so sorry,Alfred." She said quietly.

He reached up and clasped her hand with his own.

"No need to be sorry, my dear. Regardless of the circumstances, Master Bruce lived the life he chose to live and was with those he chose to be with.

As he said the last part he gave her hand a small squeeze.

Kal stood solemnly to the side of the table.

"I don't even know what to say Alfred. If there's anything I can do....."

"You've already done quite a bit for him, Master Clark. You've been a friend to him like no other. To be honest, when he started down this road I wasn't sure if he'd ever allow anyone to fill the role of friend. I know that wasn't an easy thing to do."

Kal wiped at his eyes with his fingers.

"I don't think Bruce liked anything to be easy."

"If you can stay for a bit, there may be one last thing Master Bruce needs of you."

Both Diana and Clark looked at him curiously, causing him to give them a very weary smile.

"As you both know, Master Bruce liked to prepare for every possible occasion and his death was no exception."

Alfred pushed himself out of the chair and walked towards the immense computer array that dominated the adjacent platform with Diana and Superman following behind. His hands began entering and series of commands into the terminal as the roar of engines sounded from behind them. Nightwing and Robin emerged from the tunnel leading out of the cave, each on a high performance motorcycle it seemed. They were off the cycles in a flash and had made it upstairs before Alfred could finish the commands he had been entering,

He turned to greet them as Dick spoke.

"Is it true?"

"It's true." The younger man behind him said. He was looking towards the medical platform where their father's lifeless body still laid.

"How did it happen?" Dick asked.

"We were answering a call in Nafor. They were shooting and I.......One that was meant for me hit him."

Dick looked down as he wiped at his eye and nodded silently. Alfred was the one to break the silence again.

"It's actually good that you're here. We were about to activate the protocols."

"Protocols?" Tim asked while still staring at the next platform. Diana could see the the glistening on tears rimming the edge of his mask.

Alfred turned back to the computer terminal and resumed typing

"Master Bruce left specific instructions concerning his demise. He requested that I activate them as soon as it was confirmed by myself."

Within seconds he stopped and turned back to the somber group behind him. The sense of loss that radiated in the room was overwhelming to him. Clark had lost a friend. He had lost a son. Dick and Tim had lost another father and Diana.....she had lost a friend and the possibility for something more.

"The terminal in the vault is now prepped for your individual messages.. Master Dick. I believe you are requested to enter first."

"Me? Why?" Dick looked up slightly surprised.

"I believe you might be integral to his plans."

Dick took a nervous look around before walking across the platform and through the steel archway for the vault.

The vault held the things Bruce felt were integral to his mission. Things that in a crisis might need to be locked down and saved. Batsuits, Batarangs, utility belts, and various other gear could be seen peeking out at them as Dick disappeared inside.

Seconds later the heavy reinforced steel door started slowly closing as the doors motors hummed to like. Just as the door was about to shut Diana heard Bruce's voice speak from inside and it caused her chest to tighten painfully.

"Hello, Dick." Bruce sad quietly right before the door clanked shut.


End file.
